Heartache and Healing
by Romione4Life
Summary: Luke's confession to Remy puts a strain on their relationship, but neither of them are willing to let it go. Spoilers for 1x04 if you haven't seen it yet.


**We're less than half a season into Ravenswood and I'm already shipping Lemy, so I had to write a fanfiction about them. The first part of the story takes dialogue from the show, and the second part is original.  
**

**This story is dedicated to Stefiercia, for all of her support.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ravenswood.**

* * *

Luke was acting really strange that night. He'd come to Remy's house, claiming that he had something important to tell her, and yet he was standing at the kitchen sink, wordlessly staring out the window. Concerned and confused, Remy tentatively struck up a conversation in an attempt to get Luke talking.

"Caleb took the box back to his place," she said. "Whatever's inside may have nothing to do with us, but the key did fit." She smiled hopefully, but realizing that Luke wasn't in the mood for small talk, she cut to the chase.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

Luke remained silent for a moment, and then at last, he spoke. "I kissed Tess today," he confessed in a whisper.

"What?" Remy said, taken aback. Those were some of the last words she expected to come out of Luke's mouth. She'd never seen him as the type of person to do something like that.

"While we were practicing, I kissed her," Luke explained.

Remy relaxed a little. It was only for the play they were in! So then why was he making such a big deal out of it?

"But it had to do with the play, right?" she said uncertainly.

"I'm not sure," Luke answered in a pained voice. He turned around to face her. "Whatever it was, it made me feel like… like us. Before this."

"Before what?" Remy said. She hadn't gotten the answer she was looking for, and it scared her. What had she done so wrong? What had Tess done so _right_?

"_This,_" Luke said again. "I don't need anybody telling me that I'm living with a curse. I already know that."

"Luke," Remy interjected. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear what else Luke had to say.

"My dad's gone," Luke went on. "He's never coming back. My – my whole life changed while I wasn't paying attention, and I can't be around people who constantly remind me it's only going to get worse."

"You can't ask me to un-know what I already know," Remy said defensively. Didn't he understand how important it was for them to solve Ravenswood's mysteries? They'd already learned so much. They couldn't give up now, especially when it was their lives that were potentially in danger.

"I want to be with someone who makes me laugh," Luke said. He seemed to be holding back tears. "Who doesn't talk about pacts and patterns and tells me that the sky is falling. I can't. _I can't_."

Remy shook her head in disbelief. She knew Luke was dealing with a lot, but she couldn't just ignore everything that was happening. She was caught between what her head and her heart wanted. A tear began to slide down her face, but she hastily wiped it away and tried to act nonchalant as her father entered the room.

"Hey there," he said cheerfully, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. He looked back and forth from Remy to Luke, quickly noticing that something was going on between them.

"I didn't mean to interrupt," he added apologetically. "Remy, if you two wanted to rent a movie…"

"Luke can't stay," Remy said, shaking her head. Luke's face fell slightly.

"Thank you for the offer, Mr. Beaumont. I appreciate it," he said politely. He turned back to Remy. "We'll talk later, right?"

Remy didn't reply, refusing to meet Luke's eyes. Luke took this as his cue to leave and headed for the door.

"Did you ask him to leave because of me?" Remy's father asked, looking at her seriously.

"No. He needs to be someplace else," Remy responded. She knew her dad was probably looking for a more detailed explanation, but she wasn't ready to relive her conversation with Luke yet. She wasn't even exactly sure what had happened.

* * *

She was scared to talk to him. Scared that he might completely shatter her already crumbling world. Scared that he might break her heart and throw away the pieces. Scared that he might turn his back on her forever.

Still, her feelings for him and her desire for answers overpowered her fear. She wasn't going to live the rest of her life wondering if she could've salvaged their relationship. With that thought in mind, she managed to approach his house and knock on the door. A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing a shocked Luke.

"Remy," he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk about our conversation last night," Remy said firmly.

Luke looked down at his feet. "There's nothing to talk about."

"_There's nothing to talk about?_" Remy repeated in disbelief. "You can't drop a bombshell like that on me and expect me to pretend like nothing happened!"

"Really? Because last night, you were making it very clear that you didn't want to discuss this any further," Luke said. He moved to shut the door, but Remy instinctively reached out and wrapped her fingers around his wrist.

"Don't shut me out, Luke," she begged. "Please. I was just upset before. I'm ready to talk now."

Luke slowly met her gaze. Remy stared back at him, hardly daring to breathe. Finally, he stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind him.

"Thank you," Remy said quietly. She wanted to hug Luke, but she didn't want to push her luck, so she contented herself with settling on the edge of the porch with him.

"Look," she started. "I'm not mad at you for kissing Tess. I just want to know why you did it."

Luke was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "When I was talking with Tess, I felt happy. I was smiling and laughing. That's why I first fell in love with you – because you were always in a good mood, and it rubbed off on me. But ever since this curse or whatever it is came up, you haven't been yourself. You've lost your positive attitude when I most need it. And I miss it. So when Tess made me feel the way you used to make me feel, well… I guess you know what happened next."

Remy placed her hand on Luke's shoulder. "You need to communicate these things to me, okay?" she said gently. "If you hide your feelings, then I don't know what you want."

Luke nodded, lowering his eyes to the ground again. "I'll try to be more open in the future," he promised.

"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself," Remy said. "I'm not blaming you for everything. I haven't exactly been the world's best girlfriend lately." She sighed deeply. "There's been so much going on lately – Caleb arriving, Miranda dying and then somehow coming back, finding out about all these teenagers' deaths… It's like I have all the pieces of a puzzle, but they're not fitting together. I hate that. I hate when something happens that I can't explain."

"I know what you mean," Luke agreed.

"And speaking of Miranda's death," Remy continued. "It could've easily been any one of us. It could've been _you_, Luke. Why Miranda?" She shook her head. "None of this makes sense, and it's so frustrating. I guess the answer isn't as simple as I thought it would be."

"Remy, I meant what I said last night. I can't deal with everything. Maybe Olivia's different, but me? I can't handle a lot at once," Luke said.

"I want to help you," Remy said desperately. "But I can't let this go. There's too much at stake. Please, just let me figure it out. Let me prove to you that I can find a way to make everything work. I need you."

Luke gazed at Remy, who was holding her breath. He hadn't been willing to admit it, but he hadn't liked leaving on such a sour note yesterday. And now that she was here, telling him that she needed him when he hadn't even expected her to show up at his house, he knew that he needed her, too.

"You have no idea how badly I want that," he murmured.

Remy let out her breath. "I won't let you down anymore, Luke," she vowed, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. "You'll see."

Maybe things between them weren't perfect yet, but they'd definitely taken a step in the right direction. At least Remy knew that she had something worth fighting for.

She loved knowing that.


End file.
